Saturday, January 30, 2010

What is better than one blog? TWO BLOGS!

Hey friends,

As program ambassador at Ambrose one of the responsibilities I have is to blog about my time and experience at Ambrose as a student. I have another blog that I will likely write an entry in a couple of times a month and if you feel so inclined you can check that one out too!

I know I already had a post about my second blog, but the location has changed, thus calling for this new blog entry here.

CLICK ON ME!

That's it! Hope you're well,

-kAt

Thursday, December 31, 2009

This year is a canvas


This year is a canvas and you are the painter. Let me be nothing more than the paint that you choose to paint something beautiful with.

I have no idea what this year will entail, where it will bring me, what will happen, what adventures I may embark on or where I will go. However, what I do know is that one year from now when I look back upon the previous 365 days that the definitive words will not be mediocre, boring or lackluster. You have incredible plans for the entirety of my life, of that I am sure, but what those plans are I am left optimistically wondering. I have lived an incredible life so far, received so much more than I come close to deserving and for that I am truly left in awe... but what will this year bring?

Again, I do not know. All I know is I follow a God that knows all things, He alone is my compass, He alone is my guidance. I cannot wait to live everyday, it truly is an adventure that is unrivaled by the things this world has to offer me. Wealth, fame, popularity and everything else painfully fails in comparison to the life that is made available to me through obedience to the one that created me.

This year will bring opportunities I cannot even begin to fathom, this year will bring things my way that I have never dreamed of happening and this year will bring new challenges and struggles that I feel so inadequate to deal with. But I know that in all things you are bigger and you are stronger and you alone will be the rock upon which I find my foundation to stand.

So, let it begin.

If I had anything in my hands to make a toast (the only thing in my near vicinity is an empty coke can, I feel as though that falls short of being toast-worthy) I would raise it and say:

Cheers to a new year friends, one full of adventure and excitement. We know not where we are going but we know who to follow to get us there. With every choice we make, every decision that will need deciding, may we find our source of direction in our Father alone.

-kAt

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

B.H.A.G!

Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

Jim Collin's writes that we should all set big, hairy and audacious goals for ourselves, so I have set one for myself over the break.

My goals for the break are, and I apologize for another list, it's just the best way to organize my goals.

1) to spend as much time as possible with my family. Especially Zakk as he leaves for New Zealand in a month and a day. I want to hang out with them as much as possible.

2) To rest well and often.

3) Recuperate after a crazy semester! This is similar to the last, but there is a difference here.

4) Connect with friends in an authentic way.

5) Laugh often.

6) AND this is my BHAG. I want to read two books a week, and a variety of kinds of books, not just my usual spiritual development, ministry-oriented books. Read a lot! Which means less T.V. (except for of course the World Juniors), just less of the garbage that so often litters the channels. So far my list of books I want to read are:

Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela
Wide Awake - Erwin McManus
In the Company of Jesus - Bill Donahue
The Appeal - John Grisham
Habitudes - Dr. Tim Elmore
Left to Tell - Immaculee Ilibagiza
The Fisherman's Testament - Cesar Vidal
Paths of Glory - Jeffery Archer

That is a list longer than my actual break, I realize that... Those are just eight books that I have been meaning to read and so I put them here... Whether those are the books I read or not I know not, but that is my starting point.

Well, I'm off to read, gotta accomplish this BHAG,

Merry Christmas my friends,

-kyle.trigg

The greatest mentor currently walking on earth...

The award of greatest mentor on earth is hands down going to my Dad. Seriously, I have been so beyond blessed to have him not only as a dad, but as a best friend and a mentor. I am so fortunate to be able to learn under him. I have dozens upon dozens of reasons why, and then some more on top of that to boot. For example, I'll share the latest lesson I learned from him just this past week.

For those who did not hear or see on the T.V. or newspaper there was a fire a few weeks ago in the neighborhood of Citadel where five houses burnt completely to the ground. The church my dad works at, Foothills Alliance Church (FAC), responded to this situation by giving financial aid, love and support to all the families affected to help (though in a situation like that, nothing can adequately compensate for the intense lossthose individuals are in) but FAC tried their best to help wherever they may. The owners of these houses had never come to Foothills before, but as my Dad said several times throughout that weekend's service, we care for our neighbours because that is what our church is about, loving those around us.

Anyways after the weekend service where Foothills said they would do whatever they could to help these people, CBC news heard what we were doing and wanted to interview someone at Foothills about what we were doing. It was Monday, my Dad's day off, and my Dad as the lead pastor was probably the best person to interview about it, but my Dad asked James, the associate lead pastor (and he's a beyond amazing man too!) to do the interview.

OKAY, here is the lesson I learned from Poppa Trigg. And first, I feel I should write, it's not wrong to be on T.V. at all. It's the lesson behind the story that I was impressed and taught by. I know for me, if I had the chance to be interviewed about something on a national broadcasting channel about something a church I worked for did to respond to a situation I would be so excited and jump at the opportunity! I could even attempt to justify it by saying I am being a visible face of the church loving those around us... but the truth is that it would likely be out of a hidden agenda, one of selfish ambition and perhaps conceit. So what did I learn?

1) I asked my Dad why he didn't want to go in for the interview and he said "you know when I was younger I would think that is a pretty incredible chance, but now I have realized there is more to it than that." He taught me that there is more than being a face in the media, that the point of ministry is not to be seen in the public spotlight and "popular." The point is to humbly serve, to love those around us not for attention but out of legitimate and authentic love for those around us. That we do not do things to be seen (sounds like the Pharisee's, in fact ironically enough right after this incident I read Matthew 23:5-7 and realized just how much my Dad was not about that.)

2) Instead of being interviewed, he decided to stay at home cleaning the house for my mom (her love language is gifts of service, cleaning the house is the way for my Dad to tell her he loves her). He chose to hang out with Zakk (my brother) and myself while cleaning the house. He taught me that though there are cool opportunities, know the real importance in your life. He exhibited in an obvious way his love for his family.

3) He showed me how to say no. The reality is there are so many 'cool' things to do, lots of things that would be fun, but we need to say no to things so that we may do the things that are more important. I am a people pleaser, I have a hard time saying no, but he showed me that it is okay to say no, and that we should say no, to the things that are important.


4) The most important thing I can ever do is just be faithful, obedient, humble, and be in a passionate pursuit of Jesus and the life that God has planned for me. I need not search out the 'cool' spotlight of fame and glory. It is all about being an invisible messenger of God, so that HE is FULLY visible.

5) I am so lucky to have him as a mentor and example in life.

Blessings friends :)

-kyle.trigg

Guilty Pleasure?

I almost feel guilty right now, almost. But the truth is that I find pleasure in my current situation. I see littered throughout facebook friend's posts allllll about how many finals they have, how long they have studied and the counts/scores (ex. finals=1, me=0) lately. See I feel guilty because I know the pain they are suffering under, I see how much time they are investing in these finals. My pleasure is that I am essentially done. Ohhh yes, life is good.

For me to alleviate my guilt I just need to remember to two weeks ago when I had more papers due in a week than the number of days found there within. I was under the stress and anxiety and pain writing those papers at that time, and it was rough! But, now, I am home free, and that is a good feeling.

Friends happy studying, I suppose I will just read (and not text books) while watching movies, O.D.Ring (Out door rink) and relaxing. :)

Maintain your sanity, it's almost done you all!

-kyle.trigg

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

20 going on 78?

I legitimately feel like an old man, and yes, I realize how ridiculous that may sound... But here is why.

My body, no lie, creaked and cracked and groaned far more than either the stairs I climbed up or the bed I jumped in. My knees were crack-a-lackin', my ankles sounded like they were being rolled by a rolling-pin, my back cracked, and my muscles feel as though I got hit by a bus.

So though I may appear to be a spry and supple young man... If you see Grandpa Joe on the street, he'd probably beat me in a fight.

Hope you're alive and well my friends, staying sane amongst the insanity of this time of year :)

-kyle.trigg

Monday, November 30, 2009

Idolatry.

When I say Idol....

You think of what...?

Let me guess... when I say that *oldschool* word you think of golden calves, images and icons, statues, you say that it is Old Testament stuff like wooden creations made by man, a bygone and no longer a reality.

Yeah, I thought so.

The unfortunate reality is the majority of the world today still thinks of idols as being dead and a bygone of history. But how very dangerous that is. The truth is that idols are just as real today, just as destructive and leave us just as unsatisfied as the idols of Old Testament times. In fact, I would argue (and I have the support of many, many authors and scholars, people much smarter than I) that the idea of idolatry in today's world is far more rampant now than it has ever been in the past, and the underlying issues with idolatry are so very dangerous and present to all members in today's world. I believe it to be a necessity that this be brought into the light, the fact that our society we live in is guilty of placing our sole hope and trust into the many empty promises that these various idols we naively trust promises us.

First I feel as though it would be appropriate to identify by what I mean by "idol". I don't mean the latest singer on that T.V. show American Idol, I don't necessarily mean a celebrity, person or a statue. I mean (yes anything, even if we feel as though it may be a good thing) that we place our hope in to give us something that we desire other than God. It looks different for everyone, it is different for everyone... I touch on that near the end though. Just wait to get there my friend!

I know I am so "preachy" in my blog entries, I realize that, and for those of you that find that annoying, I am sorry. But with this entry I feel as though both Christian and non-Christian would do extremely well to read and in the very least ponder on what I'm saying. It's a hard lesson to see that our society has been pursuing and placing our trust in things that are empty, though we believe them to be our help in the current crises of our day. To prove my point I think the greatest example available is to take a glance back to our history to prove this point.

If the society of one hundred years ago were to look briefly at where we are now, I believe they would give us a HUGE standing ovation. They would applaud the fact that every child has an equal opportunity to a government-paid education, children are generally not forced to drop out of school prematurely to help support the family and the average income of a house is significantly higher than that which they are used to. The world of 100 years ago would be lost in that which we daily live. They would not recognize how we go about our daily activities as our technological advances would appear to be space-like to them... and they would likely see this as a good thing I believe that many of the luxuries we have that were not available one hundred years are an incredible blessing, but I am not convinced that we are better off than they were. Over the last 100 years our capabilities have skyrocketed (technologically speaking), which in many ways is a great thing! But in an equal ratio to this skyrocketing are the skyrocketing issues and problem we face. As our advances as a society increase, our problems do as well, you cannot deny this. That as we attempt to strive for a better life the way in which we try to accomplish this task is the source of all problems we have to deal with daily on a local and universal level.

As I mentioned before I believe there are underlying issues and problems that go deeper than just the idols we esteem. I think these underlying issues are based upon the ideologies we are taught and convinced to hold with high esteem. Meaning, I believe our society has instilled values in people to pursue and strive to meet certain standards to be "successful" people. This is where it gets dangerous. Some of these ideologies are things such as security, status, satisfaction or stability (S4). I think if you look at almost every one of the major problems in the world today they all stem from one of the aforementioned issues. People are taught to pursue these with all that they are, afterall that is the chief goal of mankind (a general term for humanity, not the sex).

This is when it becomes so dangerous. When we allow these end goals to become our gods. In our pursuit of S4 we unknowingly and unintentionally let our ideologies becomes our god, we become dependent on them. Being possessed by the end is what is incredible dangerous for all of humanity, that is when we are in danger of being controlled by what we have allowed to become a god, this is where we become idolaters.

In response to the pursuit of S4 we as society and individuals have two possible paths to choose between. The first path is that which involves our commitment to live our lives according to the biblical way. That is to live justly, to love our neighbours, to be good stewards of that which God has entrusted to us and that our goals will fall in obedience to what God’s goals for us are. The second path is that which is living in accordance to our own selfish, limited-perspective goals, the way that leads to the many social issues around the world.

We have been given the freedom to choose to follow the first path which would ultimately lead to the world God has created for us to live in, where we passionately pursue Jesus and not our own ambition, where we view everything through the lens of the cross.

However, as a whole we (I say we, because we are all tied together here on earth) have chosen to follow the second path. To pursue the building of our own kingdoms, not God's kingdom being built here on earth.

Take a look at the world around us... It is clear that we have chosen to follow this second path, we have chosen sin, disobedience to God, a willing walk away from the path we know we are supposed to be following. From Adam to now (with the exception of Jesus Christ), every human being has fallen, sinned and deliberately done what we know we ought not too. Because of our choosing this path, evil, suffering, and sin have entered the world. We as a society are now caught in this destructive life-style, trapped on this destructive pathway following false ideologies, worshiping false gods and living a life that leads to imminent death with pain, hurt, disgust and suffering as constant companions along the way. We have pursued the building and advancement of our own kingdom, but the ironic thing is that this is exactly what leads to our personal kingdoms demise. The one that we need for us to be salvaged and saved is the one along the other path, Jesus Christ.

We have got to appreciate and realize that ultimately it ALL comes down to following Jesus, He alone connects all the loose ends we see in the world. Without him, we are without hope, we are without life, without guidance and without anything that will help us accomplish the S4. Society has these which we all too often seek to satisfy internally on our own. But to accomplish this we need to walk the path, the thin, narrow path that leads to Jesus and is led by Jesus. Too often Jesus is not who we look to, we look to ourselves, and that is where we become idolaters and have false gods lead our way. When we allow the idols of our time to govern how we live, that is when we are led to our death. Only when Jesus is our navigation, only when we look to Jesus for our everything will we truly reach what we desire in our innermost self...

He is the only way we can ever achieve anything of value, Jesus is the only way we can reach what we truly are searching for... Because we are searching for Him. The false hope we place in so many things (which I have called idols up to this point) whether it be drinking, partying, sex, pornography, relationships or X (that generic valuable which changes for every individual, you know what your struggle here is) always leads to pain, brokenness and heartache, leaving a whole bigger than the one we were previously trying to fill.

In fact, when we do learn to pursue Jesus with our everything, the S4 which we thought we needed begins to fade in its former luster and importance and we realize that we don't need anything but Jesus. For He is the way, the truth and all source of life for us. He is all we need. I promise you on all that I am, He is everything.

Be blessed friends, find your fulfillment in Him alone,

-Kyle.Trigg